Environmental Histories of Europe Seminar: Conscientious Objectors to the Jet Age? The History of Anti-Airport Activists and Non-Flyers in Europe and Beyond

Speaker: Lauren Stokes, Associate Professor of History, Northwestern University

Chair: Ailish Lalor, Ph.D. Student in History, Harvard University; Graduate Student Affiliate & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES), Harvard University

Lauren Stokes' project entitled The Jet Age in Eight Passengers analyzes airports and aviation as key sites in Europe for understanding modern globalization, focusing on themes of class, race, nationality, and the social history of transportation through the collective biographies of eight figures who defined it. This talk focuses on the two non-travelers, the conscientious objectors of the jet age, considering how anti-airport activists and climate activists have shaped the growth of international aviation in Europe and beyond. While “flight shame” is a recent term, airlines have long anticipated environmentally conscious refusals to fly. Join us to discuss how social, political, and environmental forces have shaped - and continue to shape - the jet age in modern Europe.

Sponsors:
Environmental Histories of Europe Seminar